Glove System and Method of Manufacture

ABSTRACT

One embodiment of the present invention relates to a unique glove system for covering a user&#39;s hand including four finger covering members, a thumb covering member, and a palm covering member. The four finger covering members each include a concave finger member coupled to a finger cap with only one continuous seam. The thumb covering member and palm covering member may also be coupled with a single continuous seam. The single seam is disposed toward the dorsal side of the corresponding user&#39;s finger, thumb, and/or palm, respectively. A second embodiment of the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a glove system including molding the concave finger members, seam coupling the concave finger members with the finger caps to form the finger covering members, and intercoupling the finger covering members with the thumb covering member and palm covering member

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to hand covering gloves and methods ofmanufacturing thereof. In particular, the present invention relates toan improved glove system which improves dexterity via a novelmanufacturing process.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Gloves are a type of hand covering system configured to maintainindependent figure articulation. Gloves are used to insulate or protecta user's hand for a variety of applications. For example, gloves areused to protect a user's hand from contact with various types of hazardsincluding chemical, physical, thermal, etc. One particular type of gloveis used to protect a user's hand(s) from cold temperatures via thermalinsulation. The glove includes a continuous insulated covering over theuser's fingers and palm. The insulated covering is generally composed ofa thermal insulating material configured to retain heat within theuser's finger's and palm, thereby insulating the hands from ambient coldair. Various well known breathable thermal insulating materials includecompositions of fleece, nylon, polyester, wool, lycra, etc. Oneparticular application of cold weather gloves is in association withwinter sports, including but not limited to skiing, snowboarding, nordicskiing, ice climbing, etc. A user's performance at any winter sport inpart corresponds to their available hand dexterity. Therefore, anyreduction in hand dexterity may have a negative impact on overall sportperformance.

One of the limitations of existing thermal insulating gloves is thenegative dexterity effects caused by the thermal insulating materialencircling the user's fingers. In particular, encasing the user'sfinger's and palm regions with the insulating material decreasesdexterity with respect to an uncovered hand. The decrease in dexterityresults from a variety of factors including material composition,thickness, seam locations, etc. Conventional solutions have attempted tomaintain dexterity through the use of thinner insulating materials.Unfortunately, the use of thinner insulating materials reduces thethermal insulating properties of the glove. Allowing a user's hand toreduce in temperature also corresponds to a decrease in dexterity andtherefore fails to adequately solve the problem of maintaining dexterityfor cold weather activities.

Therefore, there is a need in the industry for a glove system and methodof manufacturing that maintains thermal insulation and increasesdexterity over conventional glove systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to hand covering gloves and methods ofmanufacturing thereof. One embodiment of the present invention relatesto a unique glove system for covering a user's hand including fourfinger covering members, a thumb covering member, and a palm coveringmember. The four finger covering members each include a concave fingermember coupled to a finger cap with only one continuous seam. The thumbcovering member and palm covering member may also be coupled with asingle continuous seam. The single seam is disposed toward the dorsalside of the corresponding user's finger, thumb, and/or palm,respectively. A second embodiment of the present invention relates to amethod of manufacturing a glove system including molding the concavefinger members, seam coupling the concave finger members with the fingercaps to form the finger covering members, and intercoupling the fingercovering members with the thumb covering member and palm coveringmember.

Embodiments of the present invention represent a significant advance inthe field of glove systems and associated methods of manufacturing. Asingle seam on each of the finger covering members of the glove systemallows for greater user dexterity with respect to conventionalmulti-seam finger covering members. Likewise, single seam provides acloser feeling between the external surface of the finger coveringmember and the surface of the user's fingers. In addition, the singleseam minimizes the space between the user's finger and the internalsurface of the finger covering member, thereby improving watertightness. The single seam finger covering members also increase thedurability of the overall system by eliminating the most common wearpoint of conventional glove systems.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will beset forth or will become more fully apparent in the description thatfollows and in the appended claims. The features and advantages may berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. Furthermore, thefeatures and advantages of the invention may be learned by the practiceof the invention or will be obvious from the description, as set forthhereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description of the invention can be understood in light ofthe Figures, which illustrate specific aspects of the invention and area part of the specification. Together with the following description,the Figures demonstrate and explain the principles of the invention. Inthe Figures, the physical dimensions may be exaggerated for clarity. Thesame reference numerals in different drawings represent the sameelement, and thus their descriptions will be omitted.

FIG. 1A illustrates a perspective exploded view of a prior art fingercovering member portion of a glove system;

FIG. 1B illustrates a perspective exploded view of a finger coveringmember portion of a glove system in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2A illustrates a perspective cross-sectional view of a glove systemincluding concave finger, thumb, and palm members;

FIG. 2B illustrates a concave finger member in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2C illustrates a concave finger member in accordance with analternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2D illustrates a molding process for the concave finger memberillustrated in FIG. 2C;

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate a compression system for molding a concavefinger member in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate perspective views of an unmolded fingermember and a corresponding molded finger member in accordance withembodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 4C illustrates a seam coupled finger covering member disposed overa user's finger in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to hand covering gloves and methods ofmanufacturing thereof. One embodiment of the present invention relatesto a unique glove system for covering a user's hand including fourfinger covering members, a thumb covering member, and a palm coveringmember. The four finger covering members each include a concave fingermember coupled to a finger cap with only one continuous seam. The thumbcovering member and palm covering member may also be coupled with asingle continuous seam. The single seam is disposed toward the dorsalside of the corresponding user's finger, thumb, and/or palm,respectively. A second embodiment of the present invention relates to amethod of manufacturing a glove system including molding the concavefinger members, seam coupling the concave finger members with the fingercaps to form the finger covering members, and intercoupling the fingercovering members with the thumb covering member and palm coveringmember. Also, while embodiments are described in reference to glovesystems and associated methods of manufacture it will be appreciatedthat the teachings of the present invention are applicable to otherareas including but not limited to other human covering systemsincluding but not limited to foot covering systems, etc.

Reference is initially made to FIG. 1A, which illustrates a perspectiveexploded view of a prior art finger covering member, designatedgenerally at 10. The illustrated prior art system 10 includes a bottommember 12, a first seam 14, a middle member 16, a second seam 18, and atop member 20. The bottom member 12 is seam coupled to the middle member16 via the first seam 14. Likewise, the top member 20 is seam coupled tothe middle member 16 via the second seam 18. The intercoupled bottom,middle, and top member 12, 16, 20 form the finger covering member 10 anda partially enclosed internal region corresponding to a user's finger.The dorsal side of the user's finger is oriented toward the top member20. The first and second seams 14, 18 are disposed adjacent to both theventral and dorsal sides of the user's finger. One of the most commonwear locations on a conventional finger covering member is first seam14, located adjacent to the ventral side of the user's finger. Since theventral side of the user's finger is used to touch and secure items, thefirst seam 14 receives an inordinate amount of wear. Likewise, thelocation of the first seam 14 may cause liquid penetration if the usertouches or secures a wet or snow covered item. Finally, the location ofthe first and second seams 14, 18 cause a particular amount ofresistance independent of the material compositions of the top, middle,and bottom members 12, 16, 20. The resistance caused by the seams 14, 18thereby reduces the available dexterity of the user.

Reference is next made to FIG. 1B, which illustrates a perspectiveexploded view of a finger covering member, designed generally at 150.The illustrated finger covering member 150 is a portion of a glovesystem 100 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Thefinger covering member 150 includes a concave finger member 152, afinger seam 154, and a finger cap 158. The concave finger member 152 maybe composed of moldable material including but not limited to leather,canvas, etc. The finger cap 158 may be composed of an elastic orstretchable material including but not limited to nylon, lycra, etc.

The concave finger member 152 is seam coupled to the finger cap 158 viathe finger seam 154 to form the finger covering member 150 and aninterior partially enclosed region corresponding to a user's finger. Itwill be appreciated that the phrase “corresponding to the user's finger”may refer to either a general correspondence to a particular humanfinger or a custom correspondence to a human's finger. For example, aparticular finger covering member 150 may be designed to correspond to alarge sized human index finger. The interior partially enclosed regionmay have an interior circumference and volume corresponding to aparticular user's finger. Likewise, the concave finger member 152 formsa partially enclosed interior region that also corresponds to theapproximate volume of a particular user's finger. The concave fingermember 152 may be configured to encase both the ventral and medialregions of a user's finger leaving only the dorsal side exposed.Likewise, the finger cap 158 may be shaped to correspond to at least thedorsal region of a user's finger. The shaping and coverage of theconcave finger covering member 152 and finger cap 158 thereby positionsthe intercoupling finger seam 154 adjacent to and/or toward the dorsalside of the user's finger.

The finger seam 154 extends continuously along the concave edge of theconcave finger member 152. The finger seam 154 is thereby the only seamdisposed on the finger covering member 150. It will be appreciated thatan independent (noncontinuous) seam may be disposed at the base of thefinger covering member 150 (not on the finger covering member 150) forcoupling the finger coupling member 150 to other portions of the glovesystem 100. The finger seam 154 may be any type of material for seamcoupling, including but not limited to stitching, welding, etc.

Reference is next made to FIG. 2A, which illustrates a perspectivecross-sectional view of a glove system, designated generally at 100. Theillustrated portion of the system 100 includes the concave fingermembers 152 of the finger covering members 150, the concave thumb member182 of the thumb covering member 180, and the palm member 190. Thecross-sectional view is bisected along the thumb seam 184, finger seams154, and palm seam 194. In the illustrated embodiment, the thumb,finger, and palm seams 184, 154, 194 are aligned to form a continuoussingle seam. As described above with reference to the finger coveringsystem 150, the shape and orientation of the concave thumb member 182causes the thumb seam 184 to be disposed in substantial proximity to thecorresponding dorsal side of the user's thumb. Likewise, the illustratedportion of the palm covering member 190 may also be oriented to the palmseam 194 in substantial proximity to the corresponding dorsal side ofthe user's palm and/or wrist region. The finger covering members 150,thumb covering member 180, and palm covering member 190 are alsointercoupled with one another corresponding to the anatomy of a user'shand. Each of the four finger covering members 150 may be disposed andindividually sized to the particular user's finger. For example, thefinger covering member 150 disposed on the opposite of the thumbcovering member 180 corresponds to the location of the pinkie finger andis thereby sized smaller than the remaining finger covering members 150.

Reference is next made to FIG. 2B, which illustrates a concave fingermember 152 portion of a finger covering member 150 in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. The illustrated concave fingermember 152 further includes a coupling region 159. The coupling regionmay be part of the palm member 190 or may be used for intercoupling withone or more of the thumb covering member 180, another finger coveringmember 150, and the palm member 190. The finger seam 154 may extendalong the concave finger member 152 and the coupling region 159 asshown. It will be appreciated that various coupling schemes may be usedbetween the finger, thumb, and palm covering members 150, 180, 190 inaccordance with alternative embodiments of the present invention.

Reference is next made to FIG. 2C, which illustrates a concave fingermember 252 portion of a finger covering member 250 in accordance with analternative embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated concavefinger member 252 includes a concave distal region and a flat proximalregion. The alternative concave finger member 252 is thereforeconfigured to seam couple with a corresponding finger cap (not shown)that includes a flat distal region and a concave proximal region. Thisalternative configuration then positions the finger seam in substantialproximity to the dorsal portion of the distal region of the finger andthe ventral portion of the proximal region. This may be advantageous forincreasing dexterity and/or durability. Likewise, alternativeembodiments of a glove system may include a combination of the fingercover member embodiments 150, 250. FIG. 2D illustrates a molding processfor the concave finger member illustrated in FIG. 2C. The process ofmolding an un-molded finger member into a concave finger member will bediscussed in more detail below.

Reference is next made to FIGS. 3A and 3B, which illustrate acompression system for molding a concave finger member, designatedgenerally at 400. The system 400 includes tightening system, a supportsystem, and a positive mold 450. An un-molded finger member is placedover the positive mold 450 and within the compression system. Thetightening system compresses the perimeter of the un-molded fingermember thereby forcing the middle region over the positive mold 450 andmolding the middle region into concave finger member 152. The un-moldedfinger member is composed of a moldable material that includes some formof molding memory such as leather or canvas. A molding memory refers tothe ability to cause a flat piece of material to form a particular threedimensional shape through compression and/or temperature manipulation.The illustrated support system includes a top member 410, bottom member420, four support posts 440, and a support platform 445. The foursupport posts extend through the corner regions of the top member 410,bottom member 420, and support platform 445. The illustrated tighteningsystem includes a set of compression screws 430. The compression screws430 extend through the top and bottom members 410, 420. The compressionscrews 430 are configured to compress the spacing between the top andbottom members 410, 420 in correspondence to the rotation of thecompression screws 430. It will be appreciated that numerous other typesof compression systems may be used to mold the concave finger members inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention.

Reference is next made to FIGS. 4A and 4B, which illustrate perspectiveviews of an unmolded finger member 151 and a corresponding molded fingermember 152 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Theun-molded finger member 152 is a piece of moldable material includingbut not limited to leather, canvas, etc. The unmolded finger member 151includes extra material around the periphery which may be used tocompression mold the interior region. The corresponding concave fingermember 152 therefore includes the molded interior region of the unmoldedfinger member 151 with the extra material removed. The finger seam 154would be located on the concave side of the concave finger member 152.

Reference is next made to FIG. 4C, which illustrates a seam coupledfinger covering member 150. The illustrated finger covering member 150includes the concave finger member 152 of FIG. 4B seam coupled to afinger cap 158 (not visible) via the finger seam 154. The fingercovering member 150 is positioned over the index finger of a user's hand300. The user's hand includes multiple fingers 350, a thumb 380, and apalm 390.

It should be noted that various alternative system designs may bepracticed in accordance with the present invention, including one ormore portions or concepts of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 ordescribed above. Various other embodiments have been contemplated,including combinations in whole or in part of the embodiments describedabove.

What is claimed is:
 1. A glove system configured to encase a user's handcomprising: four finger covering members configured to independentlyencase the user's fingers, wherein at least one of the four fingeringcovering members includes a concave finger member and a finger capintercoupled with only one continuous finger seam; a thumb coveringmember configured to independently encase the user's thumb; and a palmcovering member configured to independently encase the user's palm,wherein the palm covering member is coupled to the four finger coveringmembers and the thumb covering member to form a continuous coveringlayer over the user's hand.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein all fourfingering covering members include a concave finger member and a fingercap intercoupled with only one continuous finger seam.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the concave finger covering members include a partiallyenclosed interior region corresponding to the volume of a user's finger.4. The system of claim 1, wherein the thumb covering member includes aconcave thumb member and a thumb cap intercoupled with only onecontinuous thumb seam.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein an interiorcircumference of the concave finger members corresponds to thecircumference of a user's finger.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein eachof the four finger covering members is independently shaped with respectto the remaining finger covering members to correspond to a generalrelationship between each of the user's fingers with respect to theremaining fingers.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the only seam on atleast one of the four finger covering members is disposed in substantialproximity to the corresponding dorsal side of the user's finger.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the four concave finger covering members areat least in part composed of a moldable material.
 9. The system of claim1, wherein the four finger caps are at least in part composed of anelastic material.
 10. A glove system configured to encase a user's handcomprising: four finger covering members configured to independentlyencase the user's fingers, wherein the four fingering covering memberseach include a concave finger member and a finger cap intercoupled withonly one continuous finger seam, and wherein the only seam on each ofthe four finger covering members is disposed in substantial proximity tothe corresponding dorsal side of the user's fingers; a thumb coveringmember configured to independently encase the user's thumb, wherein thethumb covering member includes a concave thumb member and a thumb capintercoupled with only one continuous thumb seam; and a palm coveringmember configured to independently encase the user's palm, wherein thepalm covering member is coupled to the four finger covering members andthe thumb covering member to form a continuous covering layer over theuser's hand.
 11. A method for manufacturing a glove system comprisingthe acts of: molding four independent concave finger members to have aninterior partially enclosed volume corresponding to the volume of acorresponding user's finger; seam coupling each of the four concavefinger members to a corresponding finger cap to form four fingercovering members each including an enclosed interior regioncorresponding to each of the user's fingers; intercoupling the fourfinger covering members with a thumb covering member and a palm coveringmember to form the glove system configured to encase a user's hand; andwherein the seam coupling of each of the four finger covering members isthe only seam on each of the four finger covering members.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the act of intercoupling the four fingercovering members includes disposing the seam in substantial proximity tothe dorsal side of the corresponding user's fingers.
 13. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the act of intercoupling the four finger coveringmembers with a thumb covering member further includes molding a concavethumb member to have an interior partially enclosed volume correspondingto the volume of a corresponding user's thumb; and seam coupling theconcave thumb member to a corresponding thumb cap to form the thumbcovering member including an enclosed interior region corresponding tothe user's thumb.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the seam couplingon the thumb covering member is the only seam on the thumb coveringmember.
 15. The method of claim 11 further including the act of aligningthe seam couplings of the four finger covering members to be continuouswith one another.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of moldingthe four concave finger members includes compressing a unmolded fingermember over a positive mold and cutting the unmolded finger member alongthe perimeter of the positive mold.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinthe act of compressing further includes providing a compression systemincluding a top member, a bottom member, a tightening system, and apositive mold, and wherein tightening system is configured to compressthe top member toward the bottom member around the perimeter of thepositive mold.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the tightening systemincludes a plurality of compression screws.
 19. The method of claim 11,wherein the four concave finger covering members are at least composedin part of a moldable material.
 20. The method of claim 11, wherein thefour finger caps are at least composed in part of an elastic material.